Is Deepfake Pornography Illegal?

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has become widely available, allowing the average person to create fake images indistinguishable from the real thing. While there are many innocent uses of this technology (such as funny memes), this technology holds serious potential for harm and abuse, including spreading disinformation, damaging reputations, and sexually exploiting people.

The use of AI to create deepfake pornography represents one of these harmful realities. This article reviews where the law stands when it comes to criminalizing deepfake pornography at the federal and state levels and the challenges faced by prosecutors and victims.

What Is Deepfake Pornography?

Deepfake pornography refers to sexually explicit content that’s created, altered, or manipulated using AI technology without the subject's permission. To the average user, deepfake videos and images are indistinguishable from the real thing. AI technology makes it possible to create not only realistic images but also realistic speech for an individual.

Deepfake pornography made news headlines when videos of celebrities, like Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson, surfaced. Anyone can be a victim of deepfake pornography, but most victims are women and girls.

Is Deepfake Pornography Illegal?

Posting deepfake pornography is now a crime under federal law and most states’ laws. While the details of these laws vary, generally speaking, they prohibit malicious posting or distributing AI-generated sexual images of an identifiable person without their consent. Several states make it a crime to create or generate deepfake AI sexual images without consent or to possess such images that depict children. Some laws require proof that the defendant intended to harass, harm, or intimidate the victim. Many of these laws impose harsher penalties when the victim is a child.

TAKE IT DOWN Act: Federal Deepfake Porn Crimes and Penalties

The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act became law in May 2025. This law makes non-consensual publication of authentic or deepfake sexual images a felony. Threatening to post such images is also a felony if the defendant did so to extort, coerce, intimidate, or cause mental harm to the victim.

Digital Forgeries

The federal law refers to deepfakes as “digital forgeries” of identifiable adults or minors showing nudity or sexually explicit conduct. These forgeries cover images created or altered using AI or other technology when a reasonable person would find the fake indistinguishable from the real thing.

Images of Adults vs. Children

For criminal prosecutions involving deepfake images of adults, federal prosecutors must show that the defendant meant to cause or did cause financial, psychological, or reputational harm to the victim. When the image shows a minor, the prosecutor must show that the defendant published the image to humiliate or harass the victim or to arouse sexual desires of any person.

Criminal Penalties Under the TAKE IT DOWN Act

Penalties for publishing deepfake pornography range from 18 months to three years of federal prison time, plus fines and forfeiture of property used to commit the crime. The harshest penalties apply when the image is of a child.

(47 U.S.C. §§ 223(h), 223a (2026).)

State Deepfake Porn Crimes and Penalties

Nearly all states have enacted laws prohibiting deepfake pornography. Some states created new laws specifically targeting deepfakes, while others expanded existing crimes to cover these acts. States that enacted new crimes typically modeled them after their revenge porn laws. Some specifically reference "deepfakes," but most broadly define images and videos to include those created, modified, or altered by AI or similar technology to depict an identifiable person.

Proof of Harm and Penalties

While these laws generally aim to criminalize the same type of images, they vary in their penalties and proof of harm to secure a conviction. For instance, some laws require the prosecutor to prove that the defendant shared or published the deepfake sexual images intending to harm the victim financially or emotionally. A few states' laws include reputational injuries as a type of harm. Other states focus on the defendant’s intent to harass, intimidate, or coerce a victim.

Penalties range from misdemeanors to serious felonies. Several states impose both misdemeanor and felony penalties, although the latter might only apply if the defendant posts the image to a website, the victim is a minor, or the victim suffers certain harm. Louisiana has some of the toughest penalties for unlawful deepfakes, with a maximum 30-year sentence for certain crimes.

Examples of State Deepfake Porn Crimes

Below are examples of state laws that criminalize creating or sharing deepfake pornography.

Why Deepfake Porn Crimes Are Difficult to Prosecute

Even with new and expanded laws targeting deepfake porn, these cases are often difficult to prosecute. Just finding the perpetrators can be a difficult task, requiring considerable manhours, financial resources, and expensive technology. Plus, many laws require a prosecutor to prove the perpetrator intended some harm to the depicted person, when often the perpetrator's only objective is self-gratification. A few cases have made the news, and more are likely to come.

Federal Conviction

In April 2026, an Ohio man became the first person convicted under the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act. He pleaded guilty to multiple cybercrimes, including publication of digital forgeries. The defendant used AI to create deepfake porn videos and obscene images of adults and children. He created and posted more than 700 deepfake images to a website dedicated to child sex abuse. In one case, he distributed an AI deepfake porn video to a victim's co-workers. He also harassed his victims, leaving them threatening voicemails and text messages.

State Convictions

A Pennsylvania State Police corporal pleaded guilty to making thousands of deepfake porn videos and photos of multiple women. He used images from state databases to create the images, including mug shots, driver's license photos, and other images stored in law enforcement databases. His sentencing will be held in July 2026, and he'll be required to register as a sex offender.

Also in Pennsylvania, two teenagers received felony adjudications for creating deepfake child porn using images of their classmates. The two boys created nearly 350 images and videos of 60 girls from their school, all but one were minors. They each received two years of probation, must complete community service, and must pay restitution. (March 2026).

Can Deepfake Porn Victims Sue? Civil Remedies and Takedown Rights

Another possible option for victims is to take the civil route. If they know who made or posted the image, they may be able to seek damages in a civil lawsuit. Possible civil causes of action include invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or actions specific to nonconsensual distribution of deepfake porn.

Several states—including Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, and Minnesota—have laws that allow victims whose images have been unlawfully used in deepfake porn to seek money damages, ask for court orders directing defendants to take down materials from websites, or both.

The new federal TAKE IT DOWN Act also provides civil remedies. Starting in the summer of 2026, victims will be able to submit requests to websites and platforms to have their images removed. Website administrators must take down the image within 48 hours of receiving the request. This option doesn't require the victim to know who the perpetrator is.

(Ala. Code §§ 6-5-840, 6-5-841; Cal. Civil Code § 1708.85, Fla. Stat. § 836.13, 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 190/25; Minn. Stat. § 604.32 (2026).)

Where Can Deepfake Porn Victims Get Help?

If your image has been used in deepfake pornography, help may be available. These organizations provide information and resources to assist victims remove sexually explicit online images or stop the sharing of them—check out Take It Down, Help from NCMEC, the Safety Center at CyberCivilRights.org, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Should I Talk to a Lawyer?

If you have questions regarding crimes associated with deepfake pornography, talk to a criminal defense lawyer. For questions regarding civil remedies (money damages, removal options), a personal injury lawyer may be able to assist you.